26322: Craig (news) Hopes for peace in Haiti rest in ballot box (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From:  Dan Craig <sak-pase@bimini.ws>

Posted on Sun, Sep. 25, 2005
Hopes for peace in Haiti rest in ballot box
BY JOE MOZINGO
jmozingo@herald.com <mailto:jmozingo@herald.com>

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Divided by class, perpetually upended by coups and terrorized 
by despots and thugs, Haiti is gearing up for presidential elections that many 
see as the last hope to plant democracy in this troubled country.

An armed rebellion early last year pushed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into 
exile for the second time, leaving chaos and a political vacuum so complete 
that U.S. Marines, and then United Nations peacekeepers, have had to step in to 
maintain order.

A U.S.-backed interim government, led by Haitian-American businessman Gerard 
Latortue, has so far failed to gain any real grip on this politically ravaged 
nation.

But after widespread doubts that Haitian and international officials could 
organize an election so quickly -- given the insecurity and the destruction of 
almost every government institution during the rebellion -- the dates are now 
set.

The election for president and the legislature is scheduled for Nov. 20. A 
runoff for top candidates who don't get a majority will be held on Jan. 3.

Now the big question is not one of feasibility, but quality: Will the effort 
produce a legitimate government that serves the majority of deeply impoverished 
Haitians who have been ruthlessly exploited by their leaders for generations?

''Elections are a dangerous thing. If they are poorly handled they could be a 
disaster,'' said Robert Fatton Jr., a professor at the University of Virginia 
and author of /Haiti's Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to 
Democracy./

Historically, Haitian elections have brought great violence as military and 
political leaders tried to stanch populist movements in the urban slums and 
farmlands by force. In 1987, thugs massacred at least 34 people on Election 
Day.

Aristide, a former slum priest, flipped the top-down dynamic, dismantling the 
brutal army and empowering urban gangs as the armed enforcers of his political 
agenda.

*VIRTUAL SIEGE*

But his departure brought a new wave of violence to those areas where he and 
his Lavalas Family party drew their strongest support. Gangs, police and, 
recently, police-backed thugs armed with machetes have created a state of siege 
in vast slums like Cité Soleil and Bel Air.

The insecurity has slowed efforts to register voters in those areas, and could 
make it difficult to open sufficient polling places there.

A delegation for the Organization of American States wrote in April that 
Haitian authorities and U.N. peacekeepers must take urgent action to stop the 
killing before elections. ''A secure environment for political debate, 
campaigning and voting is essential for free and fair elections,'' the 
delegation wrote.

Most important, say observers like Fatton, is that Lavalas not be squeezed out 
of the election -- by violence in its strongholds or by an interim government 
that has shown little sympathy for Artistide's supporters.

Prime Minister Latortue has blamed the violence squarely on Lavalas militants. 
And the director general of the electoral council told the Herald in the spring 
that while insecurity might prevent opening polls in Lavalas redoubts like Cité 
Soleil, the elections would go forward.

CAMPAIGN UNDER WAY

In the rest of the country, Haitians are gearing up -- however tentatively -- 
for the polls. Candidates have begun to campaign. The voter registration 
effort, which faltered for weeks, finally gained steam in July and August.

By early September, 2.1 million eligible voters were registered. While this 
does not approach the 3.9 million registered for the last national elections in 
2000, officials say they are debating ways to allow all eligible voters to cast 
a ballot.

Gerard Le Chevallier, the U.N. chief of electoral assistance, says there should 
be between 600 and 800 voting centers open on election day.

Every elected position in the country -- nearly 10,000, from rural mayors to 
president -- is up for grabs. With no dominant party in power and few reliable 
polls to gauge political sentiment, few would dare predict who will come out on 
top.

No matter how this election is seen in Haiti's tumultuous history, Haitians of 
almost every political bent say the country needs to break the cycle of tearing 
down governments that began nearly 20 years ago with the end of the Duvalier 
dictatorship.

''We got rid of Duvalier, we got rid of Aristide,'' said Jean Pierre Mangones, 
who runs a program that promotes Haitian crafts. ``We got rid, we got rid, we 
got rid. We need to build.''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/international/latin_america/12725806.htm